Streamlining: The way of being that impacted me the most in 2024
continuing on with my reflections of 2024
One of my ways of being for 2024 was Lets Streamline. I’ve spoken about this several times in the first half of the year. The first was explaining and holding myself accountable for how I was streamlining, and the second was a reflection 16 weeks in. As part of my reflection on 2024, I wanted to see if I felt I had streamlined and if any practices I put in place or removed are still as such.
When I initially streamlined, I focused on my digital areas and created a routine around regular tasks to keep on top of my home and certain self-care practices. I made calendar sheets as a visual, creating a five-week deep clean rota and weekly tasks. Shortly after starting this rota, I learned of the Todoist app, where I slowly inputted these tasks so that I didn’t need the sheets. Over the weeks of using the app, I adapted the tasks, frequencies, and projects.
Not only did I not need the sheets, but I also reduced the number of paper systems I used. I did this by using apps like Notes and Calendar. I only kept my physical diary as my journaling system. I had less paper cluttering up spaces around my home, removed multiple apps from my phone, and reduced the number of tasks or reminders I forgot as I only had to look in three places rather than eleven.
By the time 16 weeks came along, I had expanded my streamlining to decluttering my home and other digital spaces. I could organise my spaces better through the cleaning rota and redecoration. I deleted social media accounts and removed more apps from my phone, and my mental health felt better. I also became less overwhelmed.
Sitting here typing this post, I feel a gentle anxiety around how my life is currently. The floor of my office library and the pile of books on my bedside table are the causes of this anxiety. I have been streamlining these past few months, but I’m also in the habit of putting more on myself that I can process at once.
Even with this gentle anxiety, my overwhelm and stress levels have reduced significantly since this time last year. Each little change has contributed to this reduction, but I have some way to go, which I hope 2025 will enlighten me on.
Todoist
I’m still using the todoist app. I did have a little extreme moment over the summer with it in regards to trying to use it for everything, but videos by Carl Pullein made me see the light. After experimenting, I have found a simplified system that works for me. My projects have been completely overhauled.
I group my tasks by project to organise them. Instead of time blocking, which I wasn’t very good at, I now manage the to-dos that aren’t a part of my ‘Routine’ project into a ‘This Week’ project for those I’d like to prioritise in the week ahead and others in an ‘Upcoming Month’ and ‘Long Term / On Hold’ projects. I can’t forget my goal-setting with a ‘Project Planner’ project.
I went from 106 to 206; now, I have 97 tasks, and most of those in the top three projects are one-time to-dos. In contrast, previous versions of my tasks were recurring.
I was trying to implement a system that wasn’t sustainable. I have the tasks that I need to remember in my app, including my cleaning system, which now has a six-weekly deep clean schedule with daily and weekly tasks in between. I’m trusting myself more to listen and visualise something that needs doing rather than the app. I listen to my body’s energy levels when I do tasks instead of forcing myself to do tasks within a time block system. I’m more productive and less controlled.
Day One
I used Google Keep for notes and ideas and a physical diary for daily journaling. Now, I use neither. I started using the Day One app in the summer, and like Todoist, I haven’t looked back. Unlike Todoist, where I’m a free app user, I have purchased a subscription to Day One.
This allows me to have more than one journal, and I don’t need to worry about the number of entries or media I include. I do my daily journaling and have multiple category journals for my notes and ideas. Apart from one day that I forgot about most things in life, I have kept up with my daily journaling in the app.
Though this doesn’t initially take me away from my screen in my bedtime routine, I have found that if I do this at the start, I spend the rest of the time away from a screen, which helps me wind down for the night.
Why
Intending to have a ‘less is more’ and ‘quality over quantity’ mentality to allow me to pursue what is important.
The quote above is from my first streamlining post. It was the main reason I wanted Let’s Streamline as a way of being. In the process of streamlining, there were times when I did more work for myself in the short term to get to a simplified version.
I was going over into my bedtime routine. I was procrastinating on getting the things I needed to do done. I was doing things I thought I needed to do, but that didn’t align with my values. I was getting into the more is more and quantity over quality mindsets, which isn’t where I wanted to be.
Having this way of being attached to my theme evolve made me reevaluate what I was doing and why. I’ve been letting go of the perfectionism around what I’m creating. I’ve stopped to take stock of the tasks and to-do’s I’ve been putting on myself. I’ve not only been making more space in my physical environment, but I’ve also been doing so in my mental space.
I’ve opened myself up to more creativity and, most importantly, more joy. I’m allowing more of my authentic self to shine through without worrying about what others think.
As Florence Given says, “If you want to become attractive, become authentic. It might not be ‘pretty’ and it might repulse some people. But that is the beauty of authenticity - it has a magnetic-like quality, where you repel the things that aren’t meant for you but ALSO attract the things you align with into your orbit.” …. “By choosing to do the shit we love - embodying so much more love, gratitude and joy - we start to attract things and people who are compatible.”
Now I’m seeing the ‘Less is More’ and ‘Quality over Quantity’ in my mindset. I feel at peace with this mindset. I think this is something I want to explore more of in 2025.
I’ve noticed that I’m getting more of the 1 to 2-minute tasks done immediately rather than piling up. I have more energy to focus on what I want to prioritise rather than trying to push through to get even a quarter of what I wanted done. I have more space for boredom, though I’m still working on embracing the gaps between rather than trying to fill them.
I no longer feel like I have to finish my writing by a specific time, such as this post. I started this post to publish it last Friday (6th). If I were to do that, I would have been rushing, and it wouldn’t have felt right when I hit publish to put it out ‘on time’. My creativity would have been restricted rather than open.
Allowing myself the freedom of expectations I’ve been putting on myself brings back my love of writing. It is an area where I can feel myself grow in my creativity and the quality of the posts I’m hitting publish on. I’m sitting here typing, taking moments to look out the window, watching the birds fly around the trees in the rain, smiling because this is what I want to feel when I’m in the flow of life.
The small joys I’ve found through streamlining make what I have done this year to get here all the more worth it.
How do you feel now compared to December 2023? Was the journey one you needed or one that still needs some reflection?
Tami
Hmm. This has given me some ideas!